JPH0357478Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer in which one end of an elastic body is fixedly supported and a pen tip is provided at the other end of the elastic body, and the elastic body or the pen tip is pressed in the printing direction by a plunger solenoid to perform printing.

[Summary of the idea]

In the present invention, a connecting portion is formed on the side of the pen tip, an ink supply pipe is connected to this connecting portion, and the ink supply pipe is guided in a direction substantially parallel to the elastic body. This enables a hammer-type printing operation and improves the frequency response of the leaf spring that supports the pen tip.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional printers, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-109845, an ink supply pipe is connected to the upper end of the central axis of the pen tip, and the pen tip is supported. A structure was adopted in which the leaf spring was sucked from below by a plunger solenoid. By energizing the plunger solenoid, the leaf spring is deformed and the pen tip is pressed against the printing paper supported by the platen, thereby performing a printing operation.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Conventional printers of this type cannot perform hammer-type printing in which the leaf spring is hit from above by a plunger solenoid, and the ink supply pipe acts as a load on the leaf spring, which reduces the frequency response of the leaf spring. The disadvantage was that the quality decreased. Furthermore, since the ink supply pipe is connected to the top of the pen tip, it is not possible to attach a damper to the top of the pen tip to prevent resonance.
The problem was that the image quality deteriorated. Furthermore, a plunger solenoid installed below the leaf spring allows
This has the disadvantage that the running path of the printing paper is restricted and the winding angle of the printing paper becomes large, making it impossible to print on thick paper. The present invention was developed in view of these problems, and it enables hammer-type printing, prevents the ink supply pipe from being a load on the elastic body, and further reduces the image quality due to resonance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer that prevents deterioration or reduces restrictions on the running path of printing paper.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a printer in which a pen tip is provided at the other end of an elastic body whose one end is fixedly supported, and a plunger solenoid presses the elastic body or the pen tip in the printing direction to perform printing. A connection part is formed on the side of the print paper side with respect to the elastic body, and one end of an ink supply pipe is connected to this connection part, and this ink supply pipe is connected to the print paper side with respect to the elastic body. The plunger is guided in a direction substantially parallel to the elastic body on the side thereof, connects the other end of the ink supply pipe to the ink cartridge, and is disposed on the side opposite to the printing paper with respect to the elastic body. The pen tip is pressed against the printing paper by a solenoid.

[Effect]

Therefore, according to the present invention, the ink supply pipe is connected to the side of the pen tip, making it possible to perform hammer-type printing in which the elastic body is struck from above. In addition, since the ink supply pipe extends in a direction almost parallel to the elastic body, the ink supply pipe does not put a load on the leaf spring, and the frequency response of the elastic body is improved. Become. Furthermore, by providing a damper above the pen tip, it is possible to prevent resonance of the elastic body and improve image quality.
Further, by arranging the plunger solenoid above the elastic body, there are fewer restrictions on the travel path of the printing paper, and printing on thick paper is also possible.

[Embodiment] Explanation of the structure (1) Feed screw and guide rod Fig. 1 shows almost the entire printer according to the present embodiment, and this printer is equipped with a chassis 10. A motor 12 is attached via a support stand 11. A drive gear 14 is fixed to the output shaft 13 of this motor 12, and a feed screw 15
It meshes with a gear 16 fixed to the end of the shaft.
The feed screw 15 is rotatably supported by the chassis 10 via bearings 17 at both ends thereof. And this feed screw 15 has
In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, two thread grooves 18 are formed, and both ends of these thread grooves 18 are connected to each other by an arcuate groove. A rotating disk 19 is integrally connected to the drive gear 14 fixed to the output shaft 13 of the motor 12, and this rotating disk 19 faces an encoder 20 that is fixedly arranged.
This allows the rotation of the motor 12 to be detected. A guide rod 21 is arranged parallel to the feed screw 15 (see FIG. 1), and both ends of the guide rod 21 are supported by bearings 22. And these feed screws 15
A guide plate 23 is arranged below the guide rod 21 as shown in FIG. Furthermore, a table 24 is attached to the lower side of the guide plate 23. (2) Paper Feed Roller Shaft A roller shaft 28 is disposed on the front end side of the upper surface of the chassis 10 shown in FIG. 1, and is rotatably supported by a pair of left and right bearings 29. A plurality of paper feed rollers 30 are fixed to this roller shaft 28, as shown in FIG. A knob 31 is attached to the end of the roller shaft 28, so that the roller shaft 28 can be rotated manually. Further, a worm gear 32 is attached to the roller shaft 28. To further explain the installation of the worm gear 32, FIGS. 3, 14, and 1
As shown in FIG. 5, a sleeve 33 is formed on the worm gear 32, and the sleeve 33
A slit 34 is provided therein. Then, a ring-shaped spring 35 is applied to tighten the sleeve 33.
is attached to the sleeve 33, and these slits 34 and the ring-shaped spring 35
The limiter mechanism 36 is constructed by the above. In addition, in order to press the print paper onto the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23, respectively, this printer uses a paper feed spring 37 and a back tension spring 38, as shown in FIG.
It is now equipped with both. As mentioned above, by providing the limiter mechanism 36 at the attachment part of the worm gear 32 of the roller shaft 28, damage to the drive section of the roller shaft 28 can be prevented, and manual operation can be performed as necessary. ing. That is, the roller shaft 28 is adapted to transmit power by frictional coupling of the sleeve 33 of the worm gear 32 which is tightened by the ring-shaped spring 35, and the value of the transmission torque of the limiter mechanism 36 is as follows.
It is set to a value that is higher than the load for feeding the print paper, and sufficiently lower than the breaking strength of the mechanism. Therefore, during automatic paper feeding, the limiter value is higher than the paper feeding load, and if the paper is being fed normally and the knob 31 is manually pressed in the middle or stopped of automatic paper feeding, the limiter mechanism 36 is activated and each Paper feeding can be performed manually without destroying the mechanism. Therefore, with a very simple structure, it is possible to manually feed paper and to protect the drive unit for paper feeding. (3) Platen and its support mechanism As shown in FIG. 4, a table 24 is arranged below the guide plate 23, and a platen roller 45 is arranged as desired in the horizontally long opening of this table 24. It's becoming like that. To explain the support mechanism of the platen roller 45, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 8, the table 2
A rotating plate 42 is disposed on the lower side of the chassis 10, and is rotatably supported on the back side of the chassis 10 by a support shaft 43. A platen roller 45 is mounted so as to face the horizontally long opening 44 of the rotating plate 42, and both ends thereof are supported by bearings 46.
It is designed to be supported by a rotating plate 42 via. This rotating plate 42 is urged by a rod 47 to rotate upward. That is, the central portion of the front end of the rotating plate 42 is pushed upward by the bent portion 48 of the rod 47. Rod 47
The other bent portion 49 is biased upwardly by a leaf spring 50 disposed on the chassis 10. A cam 51 for rotating the bending portion 49 against the leaf spring 50 is attached to the roller shaft 28, and when the operating portion 52 is rotated, the cam 51 rotates as shown in FIG. The rod 47 is then rotated against the leaf spring 50, and the rotating plate 42 is lowered. Note that instead of the structure in which paper is inserted by moving the rotating plate 42 up and down using the cam 51, as shown in FIGS. A piece 53 may be provided, and the rotating plate 42 may be directly pushed down by this protruding piece 53, as shown in FIG.
According to such a configuration, the rod 47 is rotated by the force applied to the rotating plate 42 via the protruding piece 53, and the leaf spring 50 is pushed down, and the rotating plate 42 is accordingly rotated. 10, the back tension spring 38 and the paper feed spring 37 are lowered relative to the guide plate 23 and paper feed roller 30, thereby forming a gap and allowing the print paper to move downward. It becomes possible to insert . (4) Intermittent drive mechanism for paper feed roller Next, a mechanism for intermittently driving the paper feed roller 30 will be explained. As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, there is a paper feed lever 56 on the chassis 10. is provided, and a fulcrum pin 57
It is rotatably supported around the center. The lever 56 is biased to rotate by a spring 58 and comes into contact with a stopper 59. A pin 60 is embedded in this lever 56, and the pin 60 allows the lever 56 to be pushed by the carriage. Furthermore, this lever 56 is connected to the end of the rod 61. The other end of the rod 61 is a bent portion 62 bent upward, and is movably supported by a guide 63 provided at the opposite end of the chassis 10 shown in FIG. It's summery. The bent portion 62 supported by this guide 63 is adapted to be pushed when the carriage moves to the left. The end of the paper feed lever 56 is connected to an intermittent feed lever 64 via a pin 65. This lever 64 has a guide pin 66
is implanted and is adapted to engage with a groove 68 of a cam plate 67 provided on the chassis 10. Furthermore, the guide pin 66 is connected to the intermittent drive wheel 69.
It is adapted to engage with the pawl 70 of. This pawl 70 is pressed by a stopper 71, thereby prohibiting clockwise rotation in FIG. 11 and allowing only counterclockwise rotation. and intermittent drive wheel 69
is provided with a worm 72, which meshes with the worm gear 32 attached to the roller shaft 28. (5) Carriage and ink cartridge Next, we will explain the structure of the printer head that actually performs printing operations.
As shown in FIG. 19, the printer head is equipped with a carriage 76 made of a synthetic resin molding. Four cartridge mounting portions 77 are formed in this carriage 76, and an ink cartridge 78 is removably mounted on these mounting portions 77. As particularly shown in FIG. 19, this cartridge 78 is provided with an ink storage section 79 whose interior is an ink tank, and furthermore, this ink storage section 7
The front end side of the tank 9 houses an adjuster 80 for preventing ink from being ejected when the air in the tank expands. And this Ajiastha 8
A supply pipe 81 is drawn out so as to penetrate through the ink, and supplies ink to a pen tip 83 supported at the tip of a leaf spring 82. A lock lever 84 is attached to the upper part of the mounting section 77 in which such an ink cartridge 78 is mounted.
is installed. This lock lever 84 has a thin wall portion 85 at its base portion, and the cartridge 78 is locked by the elastic restoring force of this thin wall portion 85. Further, a leaf spring 86 is provided to assist the elastic restoring force of the lock lever 84, and urges the lock lever 84 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 19. A presser plate 87 is attached to the front side of the leaf spring 86 to prevent the lock lever 84 from rotating significantly counterclockwise. The lock lever 84 has a claw 89 at its tip.
This claw 89 connects the ink cartridge 78
It is adapted to relatively climb over the inclined surface 90 of and engage with the stepped portion 91 . A leaf spring 92 is attached to the front end of the cartridge 76 so as to push the cartridge 78. Furthermore, a plunger solenoid 93 is fixed to the upper part of the carriage 76. This plunger solenoid 93 deforms the leaf spring 82 by pushing out the rod,
A printing operation is performed using a pen tip 83. (6) Leaf spring and its holding mechanism As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, the leaf spring that supports the pen tip 83 at its tip is formed by drawing in the center of its length. A tent-like protrusion 97 is provided, and the upper surface of the protrusion 97 is pressed by a plunger rod 98 of a plunger solenoid 93. With this structure,
The plate spring 82 is always pressed at a fixed position regardless of the deformation of the plate spring 82, and even when the plunger 93 moves in the width direction relative to the spring 82, the pen tip 83 This is to prevent it from tipping over. The upper part of the tent-like protrusion 97 is pressed by a pressing member 99 attached to the tip of the plunger rod 98 of the plunger solenoid 93. Note that instead of drawing a part of the leaf spring 82 to form the tent-like projection 97, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, a pin 1 is attached to the leaf spring 82.
00 may be implanted, and the upper surface of this pin 100 may be pressed by the plunger rod 98 of the plunger solenoid 93 via the pressing member 99. By providing such a pin 100, it is possible to always apply force to the spring 82 at a fixed position regardless of the deformation of the spring 82, and the plunger 93 of the spring 82
Pen tip 8
3 will be prevented from tilting. An insertion slit 101 as shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 is formed on the front surface of the ink storage portion 79 of the ink cartridge 78, and a pair of grooves 102 are formed on the bottom surface of the slit 101. ing. A protrusion 103 is formed at the upper part of the slit 101 so as to face these grooves 102. The proximal end of the leaf spring 82, which has protrusions 104 on both sides, is inserted into the slit 101, and the protrusions 104 are inserted using a jig 105 as shown in FIG. The leaf spring 82 is pressed into the slit 101 by pressing the leaf spring 82. When the leaf spring 82 is pushed into the slit 101 in this manner, the leaf spring 82 is deformed into a wave shape by the groove 102 and the protrusion 103 as shown in FIG. The end of the leaf spring 82 is securely held in the slit 101. According to this installation of the leaf spring 82, the base end of the leaf spring 82 is aligned with the groove 1 of the slit 101.
02 and the protrusion 103, the plate spring 82 is fixed in a wave-shaped deformed state, which reduces variations in the holding of the leaf spring 82, making it possible to attach it with high precision. That is, since there is no longer a need for accurate attachment using adhesive, the positional accuracy of the pen tip 83 is also increased, thereby further reducing variations. Furthermore, when installing the leaf spring 82, it is sufficient to simply insert it into the slit 101 of the tank 78, which simplifies the installation process and is advantageous in terms of cost. (7) Pen Tip The pen tip 83 supported by the cartridge 78 via a leaf spring 82 is equipped with a ball 109 at its tip, as shown in FIG. The ink is supplied through the Further, a cap 110 that also serves as a damper is attached to the top of the pen tip 83, and when the pen tip 83 moves back, it comes into contact with a stopper (not shown), thereby preventing resonance by the damper 110. That's what I do. Therefore, the pen tip 83 supported by the leaf spring 82 vibrates stably, making it possible to stabilize the image quality. Further, a connecting portion 111 is provided on the side of the pen tip 83, and the supply pipe 81 is connected to this connecting portion 111. The pipe 8 is connected to the connecting portion 111 formed on the side in this way.
1, the pipe 81 extends almost parallel to the leaf spring 82, which improves the frequency response of the leaf spring 82 and reduces the power of the plunger solenoid 93, resulting in energy savings. will be achieved. The structure of the pen tip 83 is the 31st one.
It is possible to replace it with a modified example as shown in the figure. In this case, the pen tip 83 is connected to the leaf spring 8.
The pen tip 83 is made of synthetic resin and is integrally molded with the plate spring 82, and the elastic restoring force of the thin portion 113 of the leaf spring 82 allows the pen tip 83 to move. By adopting such a structure, the number of parts is further reduced and the structure becomes simpler. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 32, the upper end of the pen tip 83 is bent laterally at right angles, and this bent portion is supported by the leaf spring 82 via the holder 112, and the pen tip 83 is bent from the holder 112. The supply pipe 81 may be connected to the tip of the pen tip 83. (8) Plunger structure Next, the plate spring 82 is deformed and the pen tip 8
The structure of the plunger for press-bonding the ink cartridges 78 to the printing paper will be explained.The plunger has a structure in which four ink cartridges 78 are connected, and a multiple type plunger is used. That is, the yokes 116 of the four plungers 93 are connected to each other as shown in FIG.
It consists of 16. Note that the top plates 117 of the four plunger solenoids 93 are independent of each other, and there is a gap 126 between them.
is provided. A gap 118 is formed between each plunger solenoid 93 of the yoke 116, and the gap 118 prevents magnetic interference between adjacent plungers 93. Therefore, leakage magnetic flux is reduced, effective magnetic flux is increased, and magnetic efficiency is improved. For this reason, the responsiveness of the driving frequency is improved, and power consumption is also reduced. Next, to explain the internal structure of this plunger, a bobbin 119 is disposed inside the yoke 116 as shown in FIG.
20 is wrapped. And this bobbin 11
An armature 121 is arranged so as to be slidably held by 9. A plunger rod 98 is connected to the lower end of the armature 121, and the plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by a guide portion 124 of a fixed core 123 installed in the bobbin 119. ing. In this way, the plunger solenoid 93 for printing has its armature 121 connected to the bobbin 1.
19, and the plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by the guide portion 124, thereby achieving guidance of the movable part. ing. And the stopper 12 attached to the upper part of this plunger solenoid 93
7 only regulates the stroke of the armature 121, and since this stopper 127 is not provided with a bearing portion, there is no need for positioning between the stopper 127 and the shaft as in the conventional case, and assembly is facilitated. brings the advantage of Furthermore, since the armature 121 is guided by the bobbin 119, it is possible to reduce the gap between the armature 121 and the bobbin 119 and improve magnetic efficiency.
This results in stable pen drive frequency response. Note that instead of the structure shown in FIG. 34, it is possible to use a modified structure shown in FIG. 35.
In this modification, a guide part 124 is provided at the lower part of the fixed core 123, and a guide part 125 is also provided at the upper part, and these guide parts 12
4,125 to slidably support the plunger rod 98. According to such a structure, the armature 121 does not need to be guided by the bobbin 119, so the support structure for the armature 121 becomes simple. Explanation of operation and function (1) Inserting paper To insert paper, move the cam 51 shown in Fig. 6 to the operating section 5.
2, thereby rotating the rotating plate 42.
This is achieved by lowering from the state shown in FIG. 7 to the state shown in FIG. When the cam 51 is rotated, the rod 47 is forced down against the leaf spring 50, and the bent portion 49
comes into almost contact with the bottom of the chassis 10. In this state, the tip of the cam 51 locks the bent portion 49. As a result, the rotating plate 42 is lowered, and the springs 37 and 38 attached to the rotating plate 42 are both moved downward, away from the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23. Become. In this way, the paper travel path becomes open. Therefore, it becomes possible to insert print paper from the back side or the front side. The print paper is inserted between the table 24 or platen roller 45 and the guide plate 23. Then, the cam 51 is unlocked and the rotary plate 42 is raised by the leaf spring 50 via the rod 47. Then, the platen roller 45 rises, and the springs 37 and 38 attached to the rotating plate 42 come into contact with the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23, respectively. Therefore, the spring 37 allows the paper to be fed as the paper feed roller 30 rotates, and the spring 38 makes it possible to apply back tension to the printing paper. In this paper insertion mechanism, the cam 51 is located on the right side of the chassis 10 for easy operation, and the torsion rod 47 is used to apply the force to the center of the rotating plate 42 in the width direction. The elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 50 is applied to the rotating plate 42 without creating any imbalance laterally. The cam 51 is attached to a roller shaft 28 for paper feeding, and is locked and released by vertical movement of an operating section 52. With such a structure, the amount of movement of the cam 51 is reduced, and a simple structure can be achieved in which the number of parts required for the mechanism for raising and lowering the series of rotating plates 42 is small, and it is also economical. It is also very advantageous in terms of space. Furthermore, with this mechanism, the print paper is inserted by moving the platen roller 45, so the print paper insertion path is wide, and when the mechanism is released, the print paper is inserted from the print paper insertion slot. The path to the paper exit is completely open and there are no obstacles. Therefore, it is now possible to easily insert even thick paper such as postcards, and the guide plate 23, which conventionally had a complicated shape for inserting printing paper, has a straight and smooth shape, making it easier to manufacture parts. Benefits also increase in terms of processability and processability. Further, in this printer, the position of the paper can be freely adjusted using a knob 31. The knob 31 is attached to a roller shaft 28, and a worm gear 32 attached to this roller shaft 28 is connected to a limiter mechanism 36.
The roller shaft 28 is connected to the roller shaft 28 via the roller shaft 28. Therefore, when the knob 31 is rotated,
The sliding of the limiter mechanism 36 allows the paper feed roller 30 to be manually rotated via the roller shaft 28 while protecting the drive mechanism of the paper feed roller 30. Therefore, it is possible to freely set the position of the beginning of the printing paper which is pressed against the paper feed roller 30 by the spring 37. Moreover, this limiter mechanism 36 makes it possible to protect the mechanism part without destroying the drive part even if the knob 31 is operated during automatic paper feeding. (2) Printing operation The printing operation is performed by an ink cartridge 78 mounted on a carriage 76 that is guided by the guide rod 21 and fed laterally by the feed screw 15. When the feed screw 15 is driven by the motor 12, the carriage 76 supporting the four ink cartridges 78 moves in the lateral direction of the printer, and is moved by an electrical signal applied from the outside. Plunger solenoid 93
is activated to bring the pen tip 83 into contact with the printing paper to perform a printing operation. To explain this printing operation in more detail, it is performed by energizing the plunger solenoid 93 shown in FIGS. 18 and 9 and pushing out the plunger rod 98. The tip of the plunger rod 98 has a second
As shown in FIG. 2, a pressing member 99 is attached, and this pressing member 99 presses the spring 82 to move the pen tip 83 downward to perform a printing operation. Each of the four cartridges 78 is filled with ink of each color: yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the corresponding plunger solenoid 93 is energized by an external signal to perform a printing operation for each color. That's what I do. Since the cartridges 78 of each color are independent of each other, the cartridges 78 of each color are independent of each other.
When the ink in 8 runs out, it is sufficient to replace it separately, thereby making it possible to eliminate ink waste. And as shown in FIGS. 19 and 22,
The printing operation is performed by using an extrusion type plunger solenoid 93 to extrude the rod 98 and deform the leaf spring 82. Therefore, the plunger solenoid 93, which requires durability, and the ink cartridge 78, which is a disposable part, can be completely separated.
The plunger solenoid 93, which requires durability, has been made with high precision to improve performance and reliability.
Furthermore, it is possible to save power and reduce the cost of consumables. In addition, the plunger solenoid 93 is placed above the leaf spring 82 and has a structure that pushes out the plunger rod 98, which simplifies the path of the printing paper, improves reliability, and increases the degree of freedom in design. This will lead to improved performance and even greater power savings. Furthermore, the leaf spring 82 that supports the pen tip 83 at its tip has a protrusion 97 formed in its longitudinally intermediate portion, as shown in FIGS. 20 to 22. It is pressed by the lower surface of a pressing member 99 attached to the tip of the rod 98 of 93. Therefore, leaf spring 8
Regardless of the amount of deformation of the plate spring 2, the portion that presses the leaf spring 82 is always constant, thereby making it possible to perform stable printing operations. Furthermore, the 23rd
As shown in the figure, the point of action of the plunger solenoid 93 in the width direction of the leaf spring 82 can be made constant, thereby making it possible to eliminate the inclination of the leaf spring 82 in the width direction. Therefore, the pen tip 8 supported at the tip of this leaf spring 82
3 is prevented from coming into contact with the printing paper at an angle, and a correct printing operation is always performed. Furthermore, in the printer of this embodiment, a connecting portion 111 is formed on the side of the pen tip 83 (see FIG. 30).
11 is connected to a supply pipe 81. And this pipe 81 is a pen tip 83
It extends laterally to the plate spring 82 and is arranged substantially parallel to the lower side of the leaf spring 82. Therefore, a hammer-type printing operation is possible, and the ink supply pipe 81 does not interfere with this hammer-type printing operation. Furthermore, since it becomes possible to install the ink supply pipe 81 in parallel to the leaf spring 82, the frequency response of the leaf spring 82 is improved, and the driving power of the plunger solenoid 93 is also reduced, resulting in energy saving of the printer. will be achieved. Furthermore, pen tip 83
It becomes possible to install a damper 110 at the upper end of the oscilloscope, and it becomes possible to prevent resonance and perform stable vibration. Therefore, this makes it possible to stabilize the image quality. In addition, along with improved paper feeding structure, hammer-type printing also makes it possible to print on thick paper such as postcards. Furthermore, the plunger solenoid 93 for performing the printing operation uses a yoke 116 as shown in FIG. 33. This yoke 11
6 is provided with a gap 118 between the respective units, and furthermore, a gap 126 is formed between each upper plate 117. These gap 11
8 and the gap 126 prevent magnetic interference between adjacent units.
That is, when each unit is energized, a magnetic path as shown by the arrow in FIG. 33 is formed, leakage magnetic flux is extremely small, and there is almost no magnetic interference with adjacent units. Furthermore, since the magnetic flux is effectively used within each unit, the effective magnetic flux increases and the attractive force of the electromagnet also increases compared to the conventional system. Therefore, from this, it becomes possible to reduce the driving power of the plunger solenoid, or if it is sufficient to drive the plunger solenoid with the same power as before, the frequency response will be improved. (3) Replacing the ink cartridge When the ink in the ink cartridge 78 of the printer head that performs printing operations runs out in this manner, the cartridge 78 is replaced. To replace this cartridge 78,
Rotate the lock lever 84 shown in FIG. 19 counterclockwise. Then, the lever 84 moves to the thin part 85
The claw 89 is rotated counterclockwise against the elastic restoring force of the cartridge 78 and the elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 86, and the claw 89 is separated from the stepped portion 91 of the cartridge 78. Since the front end of this cartridge 78 is pressed by the release spring 92,
The elastic restoring force of the release spring 92 pushes the cartridge 78 to the right in FIG. 9, thereby removing the cartridge 78 from the carriage 76. After this, the lock lever 84 returns to the locked position again by its own elastic restoring force and the elastic restoring force of the spring 85. In this way, the old ink cartridge 78
Once removed, insert a new ink cartridge 78 filled with ink into the carriage 76.
The cartridge is attached to the cartridge attachment section 77 of the cartridge. This operation can be accomplished by inserting the cartridge 78 into the mounting portion 77 of the carriage 76 from right to left as indicated by the arrow in FIG. When the cartridge 78 is inserted, the claw 89 of the lock lever 84 passes over the inclined surface 90 of the cartridge 78, thereby causing the claw 89 of the lock lever 84 to
9 comes to engage with the stepped portion 91 of the cartridge 78. Note that a stopper (not shown) prevents the cartridge 78 from being inserted beyond a predetermined amount. And the cartridge 78 inserted all the way
lock lever 84 because its front end is pushed rearward by release spring 92.
The pawl 89 and the stepped portion 91 come to rest in a state where they are in contact with each other. The lock lever 84 acts to press the cartridge 78 against the carriage 76 by its own elastic restoring force and the elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 86.
Therefore, with this structure, the ink cartridge 78 can be attached and detached with one touch, making the operation very easy. Furthermore, since the cartridges 78 can be replaced one by one, there is no need to replace the cartridges 78 in which ink remains, making it possible to eliminate waste of ink. (4) Intermittent feeding of paper The intermittent feeding of paper, that is, print paper, is performed in conjunction with the movement of the carriage 76. This operation is shown in Figures 11 to 1.
Referring to FIG. 3, when the carriage 76 is guided by the guide rod 21 and moved to the right end of the printer by the feed screw 15, the carriage 76 is moved to the paper feed lever 5.
This causes the lever 56 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 11 about the pin 57 against the spring 58. The movement of this lever 56 then causes the pin 6 to
5 to the intermittent feed lever 64, and the lever 64 moves to the left as shown by the chain line in FIG. At this time, the pin 66 of the lever 64 hooks the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69, causing the drive wheel 69 to rotate one quarter of a turn. Furthermore, since the drive wheel 69 is prevented from rotating clockwise by the stopper 71, it stops after completing one-quarter rotation. This quarter-turn motion of the drive wheel 69 is transmitted to the worm gear 32 of the roller shaft 28 via the worm 72, and the roller shaft 28 rotates by a predetermined rotation angle. This roller shaft 28 is provided with a paper feed roller 30, and since the print paper is pressure-bonded to the paper feed roller 30 via a paper feed spring 37, this allows the intermittent feeding of the print paper. is achieved. The intermittent drive wheel 69 is connected to the stopper 71 as described above.
Since clockwise rotation is restricted by , even if the carriage 76 begins to move to the left and the lever 56 is rotated counterclockwise by the spring 58, the paper will not be fed. At this time, the pin 66 of the intermittent feed lever 64 moves within the groove 68 of the cam plate 67 and rides over the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69. Then, when the carriage 76 moves to the left end,
The bent portion 62 of the rod 61 guided by the guide 63 shown in FIG. 1 is pushed, and the rod 62 moves to the left. Since this rod 61 is connected to the lever 56, the lever 56 is thereby rotated clockwise. Therefore, in this case as well, the intermittent feed lever 64 moves to the left, and its pin 66 hooks the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69 to rotationally drive the drive wheel 69. The counterclockwise rotation of the drive wheel 69 is transmitted to the worm gear 32 via the worm 72, and drives the roller shaft 28 provided with the paper feed roller 30, thereby intermittently feeding the print paper. In this way, in the printer according to this embodiment, as the carriage 76 moves to the left and right ends, the paper feed roller 30 is moved through the intermittent drive mechanism.
I am trying to drive it intermittently. Therefore, it is possible to achieve intermittent feeding of paper using the motor 12 that drives the feed screw 15 without requiring a dedicated drive source such as a motor or plunger, and the number of parts is reduced. Alternatively, parts costs can be reduced. Furthermore, there is no need for a dedicated electric circuit for a drive source, and the cost of the circuit is also reduced. Furthermore, since there is no dedicated drive source, no space is required and the printer can be made smaller. (5) White Skip When performing various printing operations, when printing areas that do not have print information,
All you have to do is feed the paper. However, as mentioned above, this printer does not have a drive source dedicated to feeding paper. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to move the carriage 76 left and right to feed the paper both in the part where there is print information and in the part where there is no print information, making it impossible to shorten the printing time. Therefore, in this printer, except for the inconvenience of having to move the carriage 76 just to feed the paper, it is possible to skip the parts that do not need to be printed and immediately start printing from the parts that have print information. This reduces printing time and eliminates unnecessary printer operations. This operation is achieved by the control circuit shown in FIG. This control circuit is
Equipped with CPU 129, this CPU 129 has RAM
130, ROM131, frame memory 13
2. The line memories 133 are connected to each other. Further, the CPU 129 controls the plunger solenoid 93 and the motor 12 via drive circuits 135 and 136, respectively. To explain the operation of this control circuit, for example, print information as shown in FIG. 37 is sent to the frame memory 132 via the CPU 139.
Incorporate into. Then, the data in the frame memory 132 is transferred line by line to the line memory 133 via the CPU 129, and at that time it is determined whether there is any data to be printed. The CPU 129 then checks for the existence of a flag that becomes 1 when data to be printed appears in a line, and sets the flag to 1 when the first line with data arrives. Then, when the flag becomes 1, the DC motor 12 is driven. For example, as shown in FIG. 37, if there is no information to be printed from _L1 to _L5 , and information to be printed appears for the first time at _L6 , then from _L1 to _L5 , Each step of loop 1 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 38 is cycled through in sequence. Then, a flag is set at _L6 and the printing operation is started. Therefore, after this, each step of loop 2 will be circulated until the final line, and the printing operation will be performed. When the final line is printed, the flag is set to 0 and printing is completed. This operation can be performed even if the blank area or background is not white but another color, and by specifying the color to be blown using the software, it is possible to It is possible to shorten printing time by skipping even if By using this type of white skip, the time it takes to write a single diagram can be significantly shortened depending on the content of the diagram, and the printer will not have to make unnecessary movements, which will save the machine time. It is possible to extend the lifespan.

[Effect of the idea]

As described above, the present invention forms a connection part on the side of the pen tip and on the print paper side with respect to the elastic body, connects one end of the ink supply pipe to this connection part, and connects the ink supply pipe to the connection part. The ink supply pipe is guided in a direction almost parallel to the elastic body on the print paper side with respect to the elastic body, and the other end of the ink supply pipe is connected to the ink cartridge, and the ink supply pipe is placed on the opposite side of the elastic body from the print paper. The pen tip is pressed against the printing paper by a plunger solenoid. Therefore, according to the present invention, printing can be performed by pressing the elastic body or the pen tip in the printing direction by the plunger solenoid placed on the opposite side of the elastic body from the printing paper, and printing can be performed by pressing the elastic body or the pen tip in the printing direction. becomes possible. Moreover, one end of the ink supply pipe is guided in a direction substantially parallel to the elastic body on the printing paper side with respect to the elastic body, and is connected to the ink cartridge. Therefore, the ink supply pipe does not place a load on the elastic body, which improves the frequency response of the elastic body and enables high-speed printing. In addition, it is possible to reduce the driving force of the plunger solenoid to save energy during printing. Furthermore, according to the present invention, an ink supply pipe is arranged below the elastic body, and a plunger solenoid is arranged on the opposite side of the elastic body from the ink supply pipe and the printing paper to print the pen tip. Since the plunger solenoid is pressed against the paper, the plunger solenoid is no longer placed in the paper travel path, which eliminates restrictions on the print paper travel path and allows printing on thicker print paper. becomes possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing almost the entire structure of the printer according to the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the paper feed roller in the front, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the printer. , FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the operating cam, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the support structure of the platen roller, FIG. 7 is a sectional view when the platen is in the raised position, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a modified example of the support structure for the platen roller, FIG. 10 is a sectional view when the platen roller is lowered, and FIG. 11 is a plan view of the intermittent feed mechanism. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the support structure of the paper feed lever, FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the paper feed worm, FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of the limiter mechanism of the paper feed roller, and FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing the support structure of the paper feed lever. 16 is a plan view of the printer head, FIG. 17 is a rear view, FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 19 is a vertical sectional view, and FIG. A plan view, FIG. 21 is a side view of the same, FIG. 22 is a side view of the main part of the printing mechanism, FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view of the same, and FIG.
4 is a perspective view of a spring according to a modified example, FIG. 25 is a side view of the main parts of the printing mechanism, FIG. 26 is a front view of the ink tank, FIG. 27 is a sectional view taken along the line ~ in FIG. 26, and FIG. The figure is a sectional view showing the spring insertion operation, Figure 29 is a sectional view of the inserted spring, Figure 30 is a sectional view of the pen tip, Figure 31 is a sectional view of a modified pen tip, and Figure 32 is another modification. A side view of the example pen tip, FIG. 33 is an external perspective view of the plunger yoke, FIG. 34 is a vertical sectional view of the plunger solenoid, FIG. 35 is a vertical sectional view of the plunger solenoid according to a modified example, and FIG. 36 is the control circuit. FIG. 37 is a plan view showing the operation of the white skip, and FIG. 38 is a flowchart of the same. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 78... ink cartridge, 81... supply pipe, 82...
...Plate spring, 83 ... Pen tip, 93 ... Plunger solenoid, 98 ... Plunger rod, 1
11... Connection section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a printer, a pen tip is provided at the other end of an elastic body with one end fixedly supported, and a plunger solenoid presses the elastic body or the pen tip in the printing direction to perform printing. to form a connection part on the print paper side with respect to the elastic body, and connect one end of an ink supply pipe to this connection part, and connect the ink supply pipe to the print paper side with respect to the elastic body. the ink supply pipe is guided in a direction substantially parallel to the body, and the other end of the ink supply pipe is connected to the ink cartridge;
A printer characterized in that the pen tip is pressed against the print paper by the plunger solenoid, which is disposed on the opposite side of the elastic body from the print paper.